On 23 May 2019 the Association of European Lawyers (AEL) established an annual prize to recognise an outstanding contribution by a young lawyer from one of its 40 firms covering 42 jurisdictions. I t did so in memory of John Kerr. It is a fitting legacy – John was a friend, support and patient mentor to many young lawyers and for more than 25 years did much to promote the AEL and its values of excellent client service, investment in people and collaboration across borders in the promotion of the Rule of Law.

John died at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 17 March 2019 after a short illness, with his wife Adrienne and sons Struan and Moray by his side.

On the sunny spring morning of 28 March 2019, St Stephen’s Church in Comely Bank, Edinburgh, was packed for John’s funeral service, which was conducted by the Rev George Vidits. Every pew was filled, a mark of the great love, respect and affection that we all have for John.

During that service, Struan and Moray gave eloquent, moving tributes to their dad, Annabel Rockett delivered a beautiful interpretation of “Bring Him Home” and we all recognised that the void we are left with at John’s passing is quickly filled with the happy memories we have of him.

And John would want that. He would want us to remember the happiness we shared with him, rather than the sadness of losing him. Here is some of his background, and stories we shared that day.

John had an outstanding academic career. He attended John Watson’s Primary and Secondary Schools, where he was Head Boy and Dux. He was awarded a First Class Honours Degree in Law from Edinburgh University in 1978 and later tutored there in Mercantile Law. In autumn 1978 he joined Strathern & Blair WS as an apprentice to George S Russell, John W Blair, Tom Campbell, John Reid and others. John excelled during his training and was kept on to do a variety of legal work serving personal, corporate and public authority clients and also appearing regularly in the District and Sheriff Courts. John was admitted as a WS (Writer to the Signet) on 9 December 1980, as a solicitor on 18 December 1980 and was assumed as a partner at S&B in 1984. He was instrumental in promoting the merger with J&F Anderson WS in 1992 to form Anderson Strathern, where he remained a partner until his death, serving the firm on both its Management Committee and its Board.

As legal practice became more specialised John became primarily a corporate lawyer, but one of his exceptional strengths was his versatility. It was one of the many remarkable coincidences of John’s life, given Struan’s career as a firefighter, that John was a co-author – with his friend and former partner Sheriff Robert Fife – of the section on Fire in the Stair Encyclopaedia of Scots Law, and seemed to know most of the rest of it!

John’s legal expertise also included education, charities, governance and food and drink. Famously, in 2014 he acted for members of the MacKinnon family in the sale of Drambuie and the transfer of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s secret recipe, which Anderson Strathern held in its safe.

That breadth of expertise included Sports Law, which saw John recognised with a top tier ranking in the legal directories. He became involved in legal matters across virtually every sporting discipline including for Hibs, in helping bring the Scottish Open to Gullane, for Sports Scotland and for the Scottish governing bodies for badminton, boxing, cricket, tennis and for the SRU.

John himself was a keen golfer, tennis player at Abercorn and rugby player and fan. His enthusiasm and organisational skills merited him a place on the first ever Stewart’s Melville RFC Rugby Tour to Canada in 1980, in an era where he was in the company of Calders, MacKenzies, Brewsters, Blackwood, Littlefair, Scott, Morgan and other legends. And John became a legend: as an excellent tourer. Many members of that tour party attended his funeral.

John never lost his appetite for court work and was a Director of the Sports Dispute Resolution Panel.

But let’s return to the stories.

Robert Carr, partner, Anderson Strathern